Blood Ties (NaNoWriMo 2015)

Fourteen

"What's this one done with?" I asked as I studied the image in the glossy frame. It depicted a colorful, shiny school of fish and it was geometric looking, but I was torn between whether or not it was painted or if the artist had taken bits and pieces and glued them together on the canvas in the shapes they'd wanted.

"It's a special sort of paint," Ife told me. "It's gives things a metallic look, Keith or Caiyun would know the name of it, but I'm not sure what it's called."

"Thanks," I said and I studied the picture again. It looked almost alive if I titled my head to the left. "It's beautiful."

"I agree," Ife said. "Do you want to have another look around or would you like to see some other things around this old place?"

I pursed my lips, pretending to contemplate the choice. Though some of the artwork here was very nice, I didn't seem to be one of those people who could debate the deeper meanings about the work. Some might have looked at the school of fish and wondered if the shade of blue the painter used symbolized their grief and I just saw a color. "I'd like to see more of the manor," I said finally, smiling widely. It was a false smile, I was not this happy, but I'd read somewhere that pretending to smile sometimes helped turn those fakes into real ones. I had no idea if that was true, but I fully intended to try it.

Ife smiled back, oblivious to the turmoil inside me. "Wonderful, come," she looped her chilly arm through mine again. "Care to walk on the grounds?" Before I even had a chance to say no however, the floor shook and thunder crashed overhead.

"Well I think that's out," I remarked, watching as the rain pelted the windows like bullets.

"So it would seem," her dark eyes ran over the storm. "Would you care to go to the temple? Well it's not quite a temple, rather small but it's all we can fit here."

"Temple?" I repeated.

"Yes," Ife replied with an enthusiastic smile. "For the goddess, Zalam."

"Zalam?" I repeated.

"Zalam," Ife confirmed. "The mother of vampires, the queen of the night."

"I've never heard of her in my life," I admitted. "But I assume this is part of a religion for you?"

"Yes," she answered. "She is our mother, the one who blessed us with agelessness, strength and speed."

And the fact that you have to drink blood. I added in my mind, I didn't understand how this Zalam had supposedly blessed vampires. Strength and speed maybe, but blood drinking and not aging? That sounded awful. To never move forward, to watch your human friends and family age steadily over the decades and eventually die. That seemed more like a curse to me. And there was the instinct to sink your fangs into things that bled. I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine, had Ife or Doc or any other vampire I'd encountered here at Lockwood Manor thought about eating me? I wasn't sure if I wanted to know the answer to that or not.

"She choses us sometimes," Ife rambled on and I realized I'd missed parts of her conversation while I'd been pondering her words. "Sees those of us who are suited for this life and with a push in the right direction sets things in motion. She watches over us."

"Right," I nodded but I felt that same skepticism and nonsense that I felt whenever I heard about any faith. It just made no sense, they had no proof any of it was real and yet they believed it whole-heartedly. I respected their right to do that, and in some ways admired that, but I would have to see some cold hard facts before I would say they were right and there was a God or in this case, a goddess.

"We won't hold a service until the next full moon," Ife informed me. "But I could still show you the temple before then, the priests and priestess won't mind I'm sure. They quite enjoy meeting new people."

So they can try and brainwash them? My other cynical thoughts towards organized faith. For me, having a faith was one thing, actively following some institution that claimed to teach it was another matter. I blamed that certain groups for that. The group that came to mind as of now was the Westboro Baptist Church, their faith said only God can judge, just love each other and they spread hateful messages and told people they were going to hell. They hypocrisy of some organized religions sort of the ruined the whole idea for me.

"No thank you," I said, focusing on Ife who seemed rather eager for my answer. I shrugged when she gave me a questioning look. "I'm not religious, I'd feel weird about going to a place that's all about it."

"You don't have to think about it as something about faith." Ife told me. "Just think of it as an educational thing. It can be a good look into someone's culture if you look at the faith they have."

"Maybe," I allowed. "But it feels like I'm intruding on something."

Ife frowned at me. "It shouldn't be."

"It's not important," I said wanting very much to get off this topic. Apparently Ife was a devout person and I did not want to go and say something thoughtless. "So what else is there around here? You mentioned a library?"

"Yes," Ife said as we began walking down the stairs. "It's quite an impressive-!"

What else she was going to say was lost as I heard a sound like a firecracker going off. I'd heard enough lectures by my mom to know what it meant. I didn't waste time thinking, I just moved. I slammed my body into Ife, knocking us both down the stairs. The hard wooden edges jabbed at every part of my body as we tumbled but I was barely aware of the pain.

With a crash we landed on the wooden floor into a pile of glass. Gasping and coughing, I pulled myself up into a sort of sitting position and looked around us as I heard the crash of feet. People were already on their way to investigate what happened.

The front window was shattered, the dark shards littered the floor allowing cold wind and water into the house. On the opposite wall, a painting had a bullet hole through the center. The painting had been right behind where I'd been standing only seconds before. My heart skipped a beat, then doubled it's pace rapidly, now aware of how close it had come to stopping forever. Someone had tried to shoot me.

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Well that ended well didn't it? Ember almost got shot! A tiny cliffhanger there, sorry but I couldn't resist! What'd you guys think of this chapter! I'd love to hear it so don't forget to COMMENT and VOTE if you enjoyed it!

Write on! =D